Recycled Polyester: The Pros

1. Keeping plastics from going to landfills and the ocean - Recycled polyester gives a second life to a material that’s not biodegradable and would otherwise end up in landfill or the ocean. According to the NGO Ocean Conservancy, 8 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean every year, on top of the estimated 150 million metric tons that currently circulate in marine environments. If we keep this pace, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. Plastic has been found in 60 percent of all seabirds and 100 percent of all sea turtle species because they mistake plastic for food.

CONS: Recycled polyester releases microplastics - Last but not least, some counterargue the affirmation that PET keeps plastic from reaching the ocean. It still does, as man-made fabrics can release microscopic plastic fibers -- the infamous microplastics. According to a recent study from Plymouth University, in the UK, each cycle of a washing machine can release more than 700,000 plastic fibers into the environment. A paper published in 2011 in the journal Environmental Science Technology found that microfibers made up 85 percent of human-made debris on shorelines around the world. It doesn’t matter if garments are from virgin or recycled polyester, they both contribute to microplastic pollution.

Recycling helps protect the environment

Recycling reduces the need for extracting (mining, quarrying, and logging), refining, and processing raw materials. All of these create substantial air and water pollution. As recycling saves energy it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions, which helps to tackle climate change.